The Horror of Love, on YOU

I have watched a lot of things lately that have made me question, what is horror? Most recently, that has been the Netflix original series, YOU. I watched the first season of YOU when it came out on Netflix last year, but I binged the entire first season again in preparation for Season 2, which came out the day after Christmas. What it reminded me was, horror is a complicated genre because it encompasses so many different themes and subgenres. On its surface, YOU has a classic horror premise, a woman finds out that the man responsible for her friends being picked off one by one, is the same man she has been falling in love with. But YOU complicates this premise through tone. Aside from a few brilliant horror sequences, the show is at its core a dramedy and a romance.

The killer in question, Joe Goldberg, is played flawlessly by Penn Badgley, who makes the character sympathetic and charming one minute, and repulsive and insane the next. Joe keeps the audience captive in his own mind through a first person narration, just like he keeps his victims trapped in a glass cage. Season 1 of this show challenges the viewer’s concept of who Joe is by following a scene of Joe being a good mentor to his abusive neighbor’s son Paco with a disgusting reminder of what he is really capable of: masturbating in the street to the sight of Beck through her open window, or plotting to murder another person in Beck’s life who he deems a threat to their relationship.

But what YOU does best of all is depict Joe’s girlfriend/obsession/victim Beck as an extremely complex human being, a good person who does bad things, but still does not deserve to die by Joe’s hand. Beck cheats, lies, helps Joe to cheat, and tolerates toxic friends, all which infuriate the audience, and Joe. Yet, when she ends up in the glass prison herself, any sympathy the audience might have held for Joe disappears, because it is frankly sickening. Elizabeth Lail’s performance is captivating and heartbreaking, and the story she writes from within “Bluebeard’s Castle” hits hard for every girl who hoped the perfect romance would make her life complete.

 I loved Beck’s character from her first scene on screen. She’s an MFA creative student, a book lover, and woman struggling with very real problems, like manipulative friends, a difficult family, and creative and monetary pressure academically. Lail is magnetic as Beck, but Joe’s idealized constructed image of her is clearly a fantasy. It is no surprise that he snaps when that fantasy is broken. In Season 1, YOU paints a near perfect picture of what gaslighting, manipulation, and signs that point towards potential violence could look like. Hearing Joe justify his own stalking and murder to himself is both enlightening and despicable. The cautionary tale ends with Beck’s crushing poem, which I will include below, before showing the audience the true extent of Joe’s potential for evil. 

It is for all of these reasons, that I found Season 2 of YOU a little disappointing. As television, it is incredibly well-made and entertaining. However, it does not carry the thematic depth that Season 1 holds. Season 2 bombards you with Joe’s tragic backstory, and his only two kills are desired by the audience. Joe kills a mob-ish man out of self defence, and Henderson, a known child molestor. I was gratified when I thought Joe killed Delilah, proving once and for all that killing was his deepest instinct. However, that death is credited to Love, who is revealed to be a psycho all on her own. Love and Joe are apparently soulmates, bound by their shared murderous tendencies. Their fairytale ending results in them moving in together, about to have a child. Although I must admit, it was a nice touch not to let the audience forget what Joe really is, by hinting that his fixation will shift to a woman sunbathing in their neighboring yard. 

What I love most about this show, is that at least in Season 1, YOU refuses to romanticize Joe’s actions. While the audience might find themselves falling for the “everythingship” or “I wolf you,” the horrors that Joe is capable of are always in the back of your mind. There are no excuses made for his actions, aside from his own denial, and seeing Joe transform from the perfect boyfriend into a vicious killer is chilling. I will admit that Love herself can actually be quite scary, and possibly a perfect match for Joe, but somehow her storyline serves to validate Joe to the audience, rather than the other way around. It says, “see! It’s ok this time! She’s a killer too!”. I do believe that YOU’s intentions are good, and a nuanced audience would look at Love and Joe as a horror show of their own making, but many viewers may not be so mindful. Season 1’s victories lie in how well Joe is depicted as a horrible person, even from within his own mind. 

So I return to my first question, is YOU horror? And I believe the answer has to be...yes. Every time Joe talks about what love is to him, that’s horror. Every time his gaze falls on a new woman, that’s horror. To hear Beck grieve her stolen life from within the cage, that’s horror. And most horrific of all is imagining Love and Joe as parents...enough said. The self contained nature of the Season 1, building dread and tension with precision, creates a stomach dropping feeling of horror when Beck finds the box in Joe’s bathroom ceiling. In that moment, you know with complete certainty that she will die. And despite all of her flaws, I mourned Beck. Because she was a real woman, with so much potential, who Joe dared to kill out of his own twisted, selfish, love.